The White Stripes “De Stijl XX” 2020. Third Man Records. Third Man Vault Package 44, 2-LP set on colored vinyl (white, red) plus 1 DVD. Released for De Stijl‘s 20th anniversary, this box set is almost as thick as textbook and chock full of goodies including a 36-page glossy booklet of photos, tour flyers and ticket stubs. What it doesn’t include is De Stijl (#38 US Independent Albums, #137 UK) which is fine because we have already on vinyl. Instead it has a entire side of outtakes and demos on Side 1 (the acoustic version of “I’m Bound to Pack It Up” is particularly raw and beautiful) upon which Jack White often calls out the chord progressions, and Side 2 has recordings the White Stripes made while on tour in 2000: the 7″ limited edition tour-only single of Thee Headcoatees/Billy Childish‘s “You’re Right, I’m Wrong” and an early attempt at Burt Bacharach’s “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” (that song later re-recorded and appearing on Elephant). There’s three SubPop-released tracks, all Captain Beefheart covers (“The Party Of Special Things To Do,” “China Pig” and “Ashtray Heart“) on Side 2 as well, plus their excellent cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (originally the b-side to “Hello Operator” on Sympathy for the Record Industry, Loretta Lynn’s “Rated X” and Blind Willie McTell’s “Lord, Send Me An Angel” (single on Sympathy for the Record Industry).

The second LP is from a live show at the Magic Stick in Detroit on December 31st, 2000. Since they were just back from a tour of Australia they play a couple of AC/DC covers: “Let There Be Rock” and “Dog Eat Dog,” Iggy Pop’s “I’m Bored,” plus live versions of some De Stijl songs like “You’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl),” “Little Bird” and “Let’s Build a Home.”

I haven’t watched the DVD yet but the Vault insert states that it is video of “TWO killer shows never seen or heard before their sharing here, from the peak of De Stijl touring…From June 15th [at Jay’s Upstairs, Missoula MT], the band performs strongly while advertising happy hour Pabst pints behind them. Only in Missoula. We think. Excitingly, this show is synched with crystalline soundboard recorded audio giving it an added ‘oomph’ not usually found on these videos…Follow that with the White Stripes first ever in-store performance at Fallout Records in Seattle on June 17th.” They performed a mix of originals and covers, including Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee” and Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down.”